The Bitch of Living

While in NYC this past week I had the chance to see a few shows. My favorite of these is "Spring Awakening." I've been listening to the CD non-stop ever since. Thanks to my buddy Jason Grossman for his enthusiastic review!

Spring Awakening is set in 19th century Germany, but the only design element to reflect that is the costumes the actors wear. Everything else, lighting design, scenic design, choreography, and original music are decidely contemporary. The plot concerns the sexual awakening of a handful of white boarding school classmates, which I suppose is also decidely contemporary and probably will be for many years to come. The songs in this show are never sung from one character to another, but rather exist only in a characters head. This convention is one of the most fascinating to me in the show as it opens up so many possibilities for the composer.

The creators deal with sex in a very frank and open way. So much so that it even made me feel a bit awkward. They run the whole gamut. Teenage pregnancy, masturbation, homosexuality, sexual abuse, dominance and subserviance and seemingly everything in between... So if you go see it, and hopefully you will, be ready for it. They pull no punches.
Spring Awakening is my favorite Broadway musical experience since Rent. It's innovative, empowering, and takes risks. The first act is some of the best musical theater I've ever seen. The second act, though well wrought is also forced at points into a plot structure that has to get from point A to point B in X amount of time...Unless you cut out a character or a major plot point it's hard to imagine doing anything different, but still it's a bit dissapointing after the stellar first act.

Still, this show is WELL WORTH THE TICKET PRICE! Here's a music video of one of my favorite songs from the show, "The Bitch of Living."

ENJOY!